Jesus challenged the religious leaders who were trying to trip him up for not following their traditions. The fact is that he did follow many religious traditions, but he didn’t require his disciples to wash their hands before eating. Washing your hands before eating does seem to be a really good idea, but these Jewish leaders did it out of a ceremonial obligation unrelated to hygiene. And they disavowed those who didn’t follow this practice.
Jesus called out these leaders for following the religious traditions so strictly that they neglected God’s commands. This group of men accusing Jesus of ignoring their traditions of ceremonially washing hands regularly disregarded the commandments and any other truths from the Scriptures that didn’t fit their agenda.
He called them hypocritical. To their face. He didn’t back down from challenging their misconceptions about his calling and ministry. His life and death and resurrection did away with the need to practice the law, but their eyes and ears and hearts weren’t open to accepting him as the Promised Messiah. Oh. Perhaps behind closed doors and in whispered conversations, they acknowledged who he was. At least one member of their sacred sect privately approached Jesus and acknowledged his Lordship. But publicly, there was no way they were going to hand the name of Promised Messiah to a man from Nazareth. After all. It had been said that nothing good comes from Nazareth. So they denied his deity.
How many of us are in the same boat today? We don’t publicly recognize the Savior for who he is and his ultimate sacrifice for us. Or maybe we do recognize him, but we don’t give him the time of day. We won’t admit that he is the ultimate author of truth. We don’t acknowledge our need to put away our legalism and foolish pride and rely on his love and grace and mercy. We just want to point our finger and call out those who disagree with us.
You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God. Luke 16:15
Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ ” Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.” Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” Matthew 15:1-12
As I read this week, Jesus didn’t come to make us religious. He came to save us from our sins. The Pharisees and religious leaders were all about being religious. They expected complete compliance with the Jewish traditions, at all costs, even if the traditions they held sacred were just acts of personal piety. And Jesus was bucking every demand they threw at him. No wonder they hated him and sought to kill him. He was a threat to their establishment.
Jesus didn’t come to make us religious; he came to make us God’s children by freeing us from bondage to sin.
Will Duval
Do we sidestep God’s law in order to hold to our own sacred traditions? Would we rather appear holy by our false pretenses? Or, would we rather speak boldly for Christ when called to do so? Which is better? To reject Jesus in this life and be shamed for eternity in hell. Or, to accept Jesus in this life and be accepted by him for eternity in heaven. I know which path I’m choosing.
C.S. Lewis says it best in his classic Mere Christianity:
And the present state of things is this. The two kinds of life are now not only different (they would always have been that) but actually opposed. The natural life in each of us: something self-centered, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe. And especially it wants to be left to itself: to keep well away from anything better or stronger or higher than it, anything that might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual world, just as people who have been brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath. And in a sense it is quite right. It knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centeredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.
I pray that I’ll be consistent and constant in my desire to follow Jesus and serve him until my dying day. It is a daily dying to my selfish interests and laying down my pride and greed to faithfully follow in the Savior’s footsteps. I humbly bow in surrender to my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ. Will you join me?
Mercy for the Day 